Tata Motors, India’s biggest commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturer, is targeting to nearly treble its exports to about 1.5 lakh units in the next 3-4 years.

The company’s CV exports – including that of Prima and Ultra – stood at about 45,000 in the last year.

“We have now started getting increased orders from Middle East, while we are getting repeat orders from South Africa and SAARC and ASEAN nations. In many of these countries, Tata Motors is not competing with the local brands,” said Ravindra Pisharody, Executive Director (Commercial Vehicles) at Tata Motors.

The company is also planning to launch a refreshed variant of its pick-up Xenon in Thailand, probably by the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Tata Motors would also be investing in Australia to build an automatic transmission pick-up, he added.

Dealership network

The company is also planning to increase its dealership network to about 3,800-4,000 by the end of financial year 2017 from the present 3,000 touch points.

These new showrooms are also being set up to support its current customer support initiatives such as 24-hour call centre, with attendance assured in four hours and repair in 48 hours.

“This is the second wave of dealership transformation we are doing at Tata Motors.

The first wave of transformation when Ace and Magic were launched and that was when we expanded our touch points from 300-400 to 1,000-1,200,” he said.

Prices may go up

Driven by replacement purchase, medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment in the country is posted to grow. This recovery would require automobile companies to increase dealership presence to support increasing customer base.

The company is also expecting the new regulations that mandate anti-lock braking system (ABS) and speed governors for all commercial vehicles, effective October 1, to result in increase in prices.

The prices of the vehicles are expected to rise by up to 5 per cent, he said.

However, the company expects an increase in sales in August and September, ahead of the increase in prices.

Tata Motors has earmarked of ₹1,500-2,000 crore as capital expenditure for the current year, which is much similar to that of the previous year.

Defence order

On March 31, Tata Motors bagged an order to supply 1,239 vehicles of its 6x6 multi-axle trucks from the Indian Army worth ₹900 crore.

“This is just a tip of the ice-berg,” he said on the opportunities from the Defence sector, adding that “Defence is a business waiting to happen”.

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